The eagerly-awaited Smartie app, deemed as the Cook Islands’ first digital payment solution, was launched on Friday at the Edgewater Resort, drawing an enthusiastic crowd of businesses, government representatives, and individuals.

The event marked a significant step towards modernising financial transactions across the Cook Islands and the Pacific region.

The launch showcased the app’s ability to cater to a diverse range of users, from local businesses to individual consumers.

Cook Islands entrepreneur and app developer Brett Baudinet highlighted the dual focus of the app, which includes instant payments and international remittance capabilities.

“I think it's two sides... being able to instantly pay even across islands, between the Pā Enua, and just paying your staff instantly as well,” he said.

“These are just local business people and sole traders and users, just anyone who, from an individual to large corporations, the government, they've all obviously seen the need for this product,” said Baudinet.

He also mentioned upcoming international payment features that will allow nearly instant transfers across 172 countries.

Secretary of Finance Garth Henderson said the involvement of the Ministry of Finance started in December 2020 amid Covid and all the anxiety, where they introduced the Smart Technology Grant and gave quite a significant contribution to support Baudinet’s project.

“It’s really important to see the initiative here, a domestically developed initiative that I hope meets the regional demands for access and portable finance,” Henderson said.

“We are particularly challenged now, we have this problem of correspondent banking relationships when Banks are leaving the region simply because of compliance issues around anti-money laundering where we’re too small for the big banks to make money.

“Therefore, the importance is for innovative digital-based transactions to ensure we have access to finance and for our cases, make finance portable as a foundation of economic growth in this country and in the region.”

Baudinet acknowledged the government’s initial support in helping Smartie get started and expressed optimism about future collaboration.

For businesses, the app offers tools for managing transactions, instant payroll processing, and remittance services. Sole traders and individuals can benefit from its seamless instant payment functionality and its ability to work offline in areas with limited connectivity.

Smartie was designed to cater specifically to the needs of the Cook Islands while also planning for regional expansion.

“This is the first stage of our product. And we're here to take the feedback from our locals, our business people, and continue to develop our product for them by Cook Islanders, which we're really excited about.”

To learn more about the app, go to their website (https://stay.smartie.com/about-us. The app is available to download both on Apple store and Play store.